At 7am Beijing time, Google's top lawyer, David Drummond, posted an announcement to Google's blog stating that hackers operating from China had attacked Gmail servers, with the intention of accessing the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The statement said the attacks had led Google to review its operations in China, and it had decided to stop censoring the search results of Google.cn, the China-localised site it has operated since 2006. This may mean it would have to cease operations in China.

Within minutes, the Chinese internet was buzzing with the news. The launch of the censored Google in 2006 was highly controversial outside China, causing fans and foes of Google to question the "Don't do evil" company motto. Google's reasoning at the time, which I agreed with, was that the benefits of providing localised services to Chinese internet users were worth having to put up with China's restrictive internet policies, especially since the uncensored Google.com was and remains available in China.

But the last year has seen a consistent and wide-ranging clampdown on the Chinese internet, the likes of which I have not seen since 1996 when home internet connections first became available. Various government departments have shut down and restricted video sharing, censored online games, blocked overseas sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (and my own website Danwei.org), closed locally hosted websites and stopped registrations of .cn domain names to foreigners and Chinese individuals.

Last year, the state-owned national broadcaster CCTV's primetime news programme accused Google of spreading pornography, and a senior police official made a speech warning of "hostile forces" on the internet and vowing to stop the spread of dissenting political views online. The last year has also seen interference by China internet censors – often called the Great Firewall, or GFW – in Google services not hosted on Chinese servers, such as Google Docs and Gmail.

In the face of such hostility, Google's decision is hardly surprising, whether you attribute it to moral reasons or to business expediency, as many cynics do. Google has never shown signs of catching up to the homegrown rival Baidu, and its China revenues are puny compared to other markets.

Many Chinese internet users this morning have praised Google for its principled stand. The top trending topic on the Twitter-style microblogging service of Chinese portal Sina.com is "Google considers withdrawing from China". Based on a scroll through some of the more than 60,000 comments, the reactions seem overwhelmingly in support of Google.

Some say things like "Get out Google, we have plenty of local alternatives", but so far such views seem to be in the minority. This may change if state-owned media start reporting on the issue, which had not yet happened at the time of writing. But the significance of Google's decision will not be lost even on hot-headed nationalists: China's internet does not meet international standards. Without Google, there is no way to pretend that it does.

The censorship of Google.cn is already being rolled back and internet users in China are gleefully testing it by searching for "sensitive" words such as "1989 Tiananmen Square". There will certainly be some kind of reaction from the government today, possibly shutting down Google's local servers.

The fallout will be interesting. I can't recall a single case of a major international company with operations in China taking a stand like this. As someone who agreed with Google's reasoning when it entered China, I also support this move. If it cannot operate here in accordance with its global standards, it should leave. I have given up on getting my own website unblocked by the government and am resigned to the fact that it's only accessible to people who are outside China or know the technical tricks to get over the Great Firewall.

I'd rather be outside the wall and free than inside it with the icy hand of the censor around my throat.